Georgia Engelhard was ahead of her time. She was also often ahead -– in terms of her boundless energy – of Swiss guides who led her up some of the classic and soon-to-become-classic peaks of the Canadian Rockies.
A New Yorker who climbed her first Rockies peak in 1926 and who would eventually make 32 first ascents in the Rockies and Selkirks – climbing 38 mountains in 1931 alone – Engelhard was well known to exhaust her guides with her exuberance, fitness and endurance.
Engelhard’s enthusiasm for climbing mountains, says Canmore’s Nancy Hansen, is a main reason she’s excited to introduce her to a live audience at Parks Canada’s Mountain Movie Mash-up event taking place in Banff at the Cave and Basin National Historic Site on Saturday (Aug. 9).
Saturday’s event, They Climb to Conquer - Phenomenal Females, will include a screening of the 1931 film She Climbs to Conquer, which stars Engelhard. Hansen, who in 2003 became the first woman and only sixth person ever to climb all 54 of the Canadian Rockies peaks above 11,000 feet (3,353 metres), many of them giant glaciated mountains located in extremely remote and difficult to access places, will introduce the film and share some biographical information about Engelhard.
“Georgia has always been a hero of mine,” Hansen said. “She was ahead of her time and she helped pave the way for female alpinists of the future. She was so tireless that new guides had to take her out when the previous one needed a rest day. Her main guide, Ernest Feuz, said, ‘Dat Chorcha, she vants to do too much.’ ”
During the course of filming, Feuz and Engelhard climbed Mount Victoria seven times in five days.
“The film is just over 20 minutes long, and it is a silent film, so I’ll be providing tidbits of information about Georgia throughout the film,” Hansen added.
An experienced Road Warrior with the Banff Mountain Film Festival’s road tour, Hansen will also introduce a second film, one of her choosing, titled Origins: Obe and Ashima. A popular selection from the BMFF Reel Rock lineup, the 20-minute contemporary film features a New York City bouldering prodigy and her coach.
“Ashima Shiraishi is a climbing dynamo living in New York City,” Hansen said. “She was just nine years old when this film was made, yet she already climbed harder grades than most adults ever will. She has an amazing relationship with her coach. It’s one of my all-time favourite Banff Mountain Film Festival films.”
In between the two films, Hansen will present a 15-minute slide show from her own climbs, including recent ascents and adventures in the giant mountains of the Yukon and Alaska.
The Mountain Movie Mash-up program was created as an outdoor late-night movie series to run at the Cave and Basin, with the lineup consisting of a “mash-up” of historical movies and archival footage with contemporary films on a specific mountain theme.
“Each program is hosted by a living legend, a passionate and knowledgeable local authority on the subject,” explained Heather Walter, Parks Canada visitor experience product development officer.
The aim of the program is to introduce new audiences to the recently renovated and revamped Cave and Basin National Historic Site with vibrant and relevant programming.
“The aim is to inspire Banff and Bow Valley residents to re-connect with the site in meaningful ways and to interpret Rocky Mountain history with a contemporary spin,” Walter said. “We were interested in producing an outdoor movie series that would be relevant to both locals and visitors to Banff, and that would draw on the wealth of local people who can animate the rich history of Banff and the Canadian Rockies.”
In the course of planning the lineup for the series, Parks staff unearthed some classic archival footage on different mountain themes.
“By matching historical footage with contemporary films, hosted by a local living legend who is an authority on the subject, we can show how things have changed and evolved over time,” Walter said. “For example, our last movie Mash-up on the theme of Mountain Rescue featured the early years of warden training when avalanches were set by jumping up and down on a cornice. Thankfully, times have changed.”
Following on the theme, the next Movie Mash-up, Extreme Adventures in the Rockies, set for Aug. 30, will feature multi-sport adventurer Will Gadd introducing some historic adventure footage in the Rockies, along with some films of his own action-packed exploits.
For her part, Hansen said she was honoured to be chosen to host the latest of the Mountain Movie Mash-up series.
“I’m really looking forward to seeing the audience enjoy She Climbs to Conquer,” Hansen said. “It must have been very difficult to make a real climbing film in the early 1930s, and they did a terrific job of it. And, guess what? I’ll have Georgia’s climbing boots with me, and they fit me.”
They Climb to Conquer - Phenomenal Females takes place at Banff’s Cave and Basin. Doors open at 9:30 p.m. with the show beginning at 10, by which time darkness provides optimal viewing conditions on the big screen. Beer, wine and snacks will be sold at the Café, and admission is $7.30. Attendees are encouraged to bring a blanket or chair to sit on. For more info, visit www.pc.gc.ca/cave.
